Spray - KLakes
Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 28th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 27th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 26th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 25th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 24th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 23rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 22nd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 21st, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 20th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 19th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 18th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 17th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 16th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 15th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 14th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 13th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 13th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 12th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Loose Dry.
Published: Mar 11th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Loose Dry.
Published: Mar 10th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Loose Dry.
Published: Mar 9th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs, Loose Dry.
Published: Mar 8th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 8th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs, Wind Slabs.
Published: Mar 7th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 7th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 6th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 5th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 4th, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 3rd, 2025Avalanche Forecast
Problems: Wind Slabs, Persistent Slabs.
Published: Mar 2nd, 2025Warspite Creek
90cm base in trees. 70cm in open.
20-30cm pow on top of moderately supportive layer. Basket pen down to 2nd layer 50-60cm. Facets below that to grade.
Skied really well. Came straight down the creek at the top and the boulders were just covered enough to act as pillows. Post holing on brief boot pack up tree wells on steep dense tree section. No sharks.
We set an ok untracked. Get out there!!!
1robert1campbell,
Monday 8th January, 2024 7:20PM
K-Country
HS: ~90-100cm. 10-15cm of new snow at ~2150m. Significant windslab development in the alpine. See snowpack tab for detailed results.
bryce.parry,
Monday 8th January, 2024 8:50AM
Winter Solstice - ice
* Tried Winter Solstice as a plan B. Approach up the ridge is decent but after departing the ridge crest we had some postholing and bushwhacking. Minimal to ankle deep snow on the ridge, then shin to knee deep between the ridge crest and the base of the climb. A little slow going at times.
* Left side of the climb looked the lower angle but might also be wet. Looked like you might have some shell or since but generally decent looking. Right side had a fairly steep pillar on its right and what may be an easier groove formed by the left side of the pillar. It did look wet today though.
* Climb is listed as a 25m route and the left side may be about 25m to tat on a tree. Right side is definitely longer and leads up to a rap station in the bushes. Strongly suggest a 70m rope for the right side.
* There seems to be minimal avi hazard hiking up the ridge. Leaving the ridge the snow got deeper. The drainage you cross to get to the side drainage and then the climb, had noticeably more snow. Besides being tediously slow uphill trail breaking, there is now a trail broken to follow so it may be a touch faster for you.
* The snow leading up to the climb appeared to have a bit of a crust on the surface but little in the way of buried crusts. It seemed fairly stable however we kept to the side as much as we could.
* There was a little bit of debris off to the right of the base. Looks to have sluffed off the scrappy low angled rock and not from the top of the cliff. I wouldn't think this is a big hazard but keep it in mind if it looks loaded.
Grant P,
Wednesday 3rd January, 2024 11:30PM
Shark- battle of the bush
Travel below 2150m was very challenging do to low snow pack. Recommend using a summer to get to Treeline. Found some great powder on NW trees between 2350 and 215Om. Most of the shark chutes slid on Dec 5 rain event and there is a lot of hard Debry at the bottom. Tried to ski the east path but was all Debry from size 3 Na slab during Dec 5 rain event. The rain crust (Down 20- 30cm) was barely supporting a skier at 2200m on east aspect open trees.
wardsbd,
Saturday 30th December, 2023 7:30PM
Whitman Falls
Working on the Ice climbing avalanche atlas project in this area. Climb was dry, some open pools on the approach.
avalanche.safety,
Saturday 30th December, 2023 2:40PM
Burstall Pass
Better than we expected, the ridge at Burstall Pass was holding snow to about 8cm, maybe 15cm, before a firm surface. But that surface made a good ski base, not crust nor a layer that indicated any slide potential. We skied the ridge at Burstall Pass for 4 runs with no signs of instability.
koob.mark,
Friday 29th December, 2023 7:20PM
Pig's Back
Sunny day with little wind. Snow conditions were highly variable and unpredictable above treeline- one spot would be soft powder, and a few feet away would be bulletproof hardpack. Breakable crust on top of soft powder was common. There were a few spots of decent skiing near treeline, but the snow was so shallow that it was hard to turn without scraping the ground. Snow was probably not deeper than 50cm in most places. The approach and exit were very bushwhacky due to a lot of deadfall, rocks, roots, etc. which would normally be buried. The whole area could benefit from more snow to bury these features and make travel faster. Bad ski conditions for sure - snowshoers and hikers would probably be faster than skiers in these conditions.
asfehr,
Friday 29th December, 2023 7:00PM
Fiddlesticks
We skied the lower 3/4 of superslope; dense fiddlesticks dominate most of the avi paths, more snow is needed for reasonable skiing there but we found a couple nice turns in open spots. The top is wind affected and scoured near the ridge. BTL is soft 20cm on top of very solid December crust bridging us from the depth hoar demons. Windy/cloudy until noon then calm and sunny, temps just below 0 at the road.
Andrew Venning,
Tuesday 26th December, 2023 6:10PM
Nöel or No Well?
So, Nöel or No Well? Certainly no tree wells to worry about since the snow is yet deep enough to form a hint of one. I’m assuming we were all naughty this year and Santa is in cahoots with Mother Nature because the snow at Blacksmith was absolutely attrocious. The alder bashing is remarkably terrible due to a complete lack of snow. We’re talkin depth of snow around 30-40cm around the 1900m mark, which is where we opted to abort and traipse back down to the car. It’s so bad that it’s not even worth a walk to work off the Christmas dessert you ate for Boxing Day breakfast until more snow arrives. Strong wind up high on Black Prince was creating some small loose dry activity but otherwise nothing to report other than Festivus grievances about the dismal snowpack. Sad face snow dance.
cameron.redshaw,
Tuesday 26th December, 2023 4:40PM
Christmas Crust
First time on the spray road this season. Skied the dog leg today. Surface hoar is currently about 8mm. Definitely some dust on crust action and under that crust it’s terrifying (about 15cm over the supportive crust). That being said, it’s better than nothing. There is some old debris in some of the paths. Overall, It’s wild how little snow there is out there, many of the tree runs are unskiable.
WhiteSprinter,
Monday 25th December, 2023 5:00PM
Cobra Verde - ice
The route is in thin technical shape. Better suited to experienced competent leaders than new leaders.
It felt like the amount of new snowfall varied a bit. Hwy 40 had quite a bit and snow removal was delayed because one of the ploughs had run off the road.. From the parking and past the gate into the yard seemed a little less snow than 40 while through the trees had little on the trail and more in the trees above. The open talus slopes had just enough to reduce the stumbling by giving a little support for walking. It looked like it was still too little snow to create avi hazard yet on the talus and I'm not sure the faceting was very prominent on those slopes. Maybe the old facets melted away and it was primarily the new snow.
We were second shift on the climb. The first party only climbed the first pitch and were packing up as we arrived.
First pitch is not as well formed as typical. It looks like three possible lines but both parties opted for the left line. Looking to the right at one point I saw a very thin and unsupported shell. I think it would be the middle line in the pic and definitely not recommended. Left line had a couple of holes making for a couple rumours but reasonable pro otherwise.
Above the first pitch, the ice bulge was not buried with snow as it sometimes gets and was easy to solo. Might want some shorter screws if you wanted to protect it.
Above the bulge, the short pillar looked mank. An open tube with largely collapsed side looked little more than an awful shell. I figured I'd at least take a closer look. Slightly better ice close to the rock provided a good first screw. Delicate climbing with just enough ice still close to the rock provided a solid right tool/crampon. That led to me standing on an old shell with a very new, very thin shell having formed inside it. Solid right tool over the top, an overhanging right crampon and very very delicate left foot in a shell that felt about ready to depart left foot. I did manage to place a short screw above the thin shell but fracturing sounds during its placement did not inspire confidence. I rarely put grades on my reports but if you are just venturing into leading grade 3 you will not want to lead this extremely fragile pillar in its current state. W3 does not do justice to the thin technical nature of the climb. It was however very fun and the most engaging climbing on the route.
Above the pillar, the gully was an open cascade. It wasn't too hard to climb but almost no ice. To come down I rapped through trees on climbers right to ensure the rope didn't pull through the water and we held the rope up while pulling near the bottom of the cascade. From where you turn right out of the cascade and up to the final pitch, it was mostly reasonable ice. No idea if thick enough to place a screw but if you made it past the pillar you're likely comfortable soloing it anyway.
Last pitch had the best formed climbing on the route. All the way to the top where a little sting in the tail gives you a thin top out. I liked the centre right line but the top out seemed slightly better on the left.
Keeping the rope out of water on the descent was the second biggest challenge after the mid route pillar.
Grant P,
Sunday 24th December, 2023 2:50AM
Black Prince Trees
Skied Treeline and Below Treeline. Noticed small whumpfing sounds when climbing open tree’d areas. Stayed below alpine. At Treeline - powder with higher elevation, very light crust layer near surface. Below Treeline - below threshold - small bushes and undergrowth highly visible, making exit run difficult near the bottom.
charleshervieuxx,
Sunday 17th December, 2023 8:20PM
Hero's "the slope" Profile
totty_scums,
Saturday 16th December, 2023 6:40PM
Kent South Peak
Heard whumpfing and saw some shooting cracks when crossing open areas of the snowpack at treeline elevations. Could not complete summit (~200 meters short) due to conditions
etorwalt,
Saturday 16th December, 2023 6:00PM
Frozen lake
Today was better than expected. The trail breaking was dense trees and low tide bushy and aldery. The crust was supportive but the thin snowpack made travel slow. Saw some fresh wind slabs from a north wind on the north face where we skied.
Joanna Lynn,
Saturday 16th December, 2023 4:20PM
Black Prince Glades
Went for a walk up Black Prince today with the goal of checking out local conditions and avoiding avalanche terrain.
Observed significant surface hoar formation low in the valley on all aspects. Dug a quick pit at the top of our ascent (~2350m) on a SE facing slope on the lee side of wind scoured ridge. HS was around 80cm. Up to 30cm of pencil wind slab sits on top of 50cm of facet crust sandwich. Wind slab produced ECTP5 results as well as the whole block failing at ground on facets at ECT25. Everything mid pack seemed generally well bonded.
We skied down the glades skiers left off the obvious avalanche run out with some fun tree skiing. Some people might call it low snow and marginal conditions but two guys from NZ were having a pretty good time!
roberttodhunter,
Thursday 14th December, 2023 5:50PM
Chester Lake - Surface Hoar
Surface Hoar up to 10mm+ at tree line near Chester Lake
Freebird,
Thursday 14th December, 2023 4:30PM
Mt. Engadine Burnt Trees
Good skiing at top of tree line. Snow conditions become variable as you move below tree line. Burn line/hike in/ski out needs more snow, lots of exposed bushes and new young growth.
latruwe.matthew,
Sunday 10th December, 2023 9:40PM
Burstall Pass - better than expected, considering...
Went out with very low expectations and indeed saw much sign of wind scouring anywhere wind exposed and a below normal thin snowpack. Snow cover on main access trail is decent enough though. Uphill section in forest up to meadows is thin and a bit scrapped. Improved snow depth above 2100 m (relatively). ATL / 2300 m snow was very wind affected and slabby, so did not bother going to the pass. Surprisingly decent enough powder in sheltered trees in a narrow elevation band around 2200 m +/-. In addition to CT results, a ski cut on a short steep convex roll at ~2150m elevation did shear off the top ~25-30 cm consolidated snow layer down to the underlying supportive crust.
intothineyre,
Sunday 10th December, 2023 7:10PM
Warspite Cirque
Made our way into warspite cirque on snowshoes. Snow measured 80cm at 2200m, and 50cm at 1900m. Wind slab starting to form up to 5cm but inconsistent. Rain crust buried at 20-30cm, usually supportive on open slopes. Observed multiple slides from the previous 2-3 days, but none today. Spent time on slopes up to 40 degrees and found no whumps, sluffing, or radiating cracks.
eveleighmarc,
Sunday 10th December, 2023 6:30PM
Dog leg
Breakable rain crust with lots of sticks and bushes sticking out below treeline. The rain crust is supportive at treeline and above with 40 cm of low density Fist powder on top. Excellent skiing. At 2200m down 40cm is 5cm rain crust with moist snow below. At 2300m SE aspect we found a double rain crust down 39 cm (1 cm Knife) and at 47 cm a 1 cm pencil crust. Compression test failed under the lower crust in the hard range on small facets. The snow pack was dry at 2300m but steep temperature gradient above the crusts and a constant temperature below. Forecasted extreme winds didn't occur but mountain top winds were strong with occasional moderate to strong gusts at Treeline. Skied slopes below 30 degrees as we didn't trust the rain crust.
wardsbd,
Saturday 9th December, 2023 6:10PM
Commonwealth Peak
Commonwealth Peak (from this Sunday Dec 02, 2023):
We approached commonwealth peak from Burstall Pass. The snow cover is great on the Burstall Pass trail (but the trail is flat ... no real downhill really).
We ascended the big avi path (pic 10) and I was able to keep my skis on till 2300 meters of gain.
Got too rocky after that and I had to stash the skies. The winds were violent but we kept persistent and manage to get to the summit (pic 1).
There was an avi slope near the summit that we avoided by sticking to the rocks on climbers left (pic 2). Although there wasn't much snow, a slide here would be game over.
We didn't stay long at the summit (the winds were brutal) and made our way down quickly. The riding after I put my skis back on was marginal at best. Had to ski very carefully in order to avoid all the trees and rocks.
Not your typical ski objective.
The col near commonwealth peak and Pigs tail (pic 8) shows typical snow cover in the Alpine around that area. Hopefully things get better soon.
Overall a hard fought day but very rewarding (8 hours car to car)
tsa717,
Tuesday 5th December, 2023 4:50PM
Commonwealth Peak
Commonwealth Peak (from this Sunday Dec 02, 2023):
We approached commonwealth peak from Burstall Pass. The snow cover is great on the Burstall Pass trail (but the trail is flat ... no real downhill really).
We ascended the big avi path (pic 10) and I was able to keep my skis on till 2300 meters of gain.
Got too rocky after that and I had to stash the skies. The winds were violent but we kept persistent and manage to get to the summit (pic 1).
There was an avi slope near the summit that we avoided by sticking to the rocks on climbers left (pic 2). Although there wasn't much snow, a slide here would be game over.
We didn't stay long at the summit (the winds were brutal) and made our way down quickly. The riding after I put my skis back on was marginal at best. Had to ski very carefully in order to avoid all the trees and rocks.
Not your typical ski objective.
The col near commonwealth peak and Pigs tail (pic 8) shows typical snow cover in the Alpine around that area. Hopefully things get better soon.
Overall a hard fought day but very rewarding (8 hours car to car)
tsa717,
Tuesday 5th December, 2023 4:50PM
King Creek - ice
*Approach is decent well packed snow but watch for a couple icy spots under snow. Creek crossings are easy enough.
*Available ice is limited. I think a couple parties came and left. We let one party take a climb on our rope, and one party left to check Evan Thomas but ultimately returned to take a late shift, reporting Moonlight and Snowline were not in good shape.
*The Gully Flow is narrow and reasonably formed, but dry and brittle with plenty of fracturing. Protects well with ample opportunity to use 16cm screws.
*Left Cave Flow has minimal ice. Highly doubt any of the ice on the vertical start would accept screws, but the low angle stuff above might take stubbies. Consider it not in. Nobody climbed it so far afaik. Open Creek below the base and didn't observe much flow helping to build the climb.
*Right Cave Flow is not in. Virtually no ice visible except for the back of the cave. Open water at the base and no flow to begin the ice formation.
*Main Flow looks to have sufficient ice to protect but it's still relatively narrow and it seems only one party at a time can climb it.maybr half the width of typical atm.
*Magic Touch looks ok but potentially still thin for screws. At least it looked a nice blueish colour.
*So until the Main Flow and both Cave Flows fatten up there is essentially room for three rope teams only.
*Weather was on the cool side. Although the temp at the car seemed to be around -4c, it felt colder much of the day. There was a bit of wind blowing up the canyon but no snow transport observed at any elevation.There was a little light snow for a little while around midday. Accumulated <1cm. Walking out I noted a new dusting of snow on the canyon walls.
*Avalanche gullies all had at least some snow. South facing didn't look to have much accumulation but neither was it largly melting. North facing were shaded.
*Besides feeling cool much of the day it was a cloudy start with little sun. Some sunny breaks as we drove away early afternoon.
Grant P,
Saturday 2nd December, 2023 4:30PM
Ranger creek
No wind and good ice on R and D. Temps were around -3 at the base of the route at 2pm. Carried avalanche gear. Spoke to a party that was on parallel falls and reported wet sun affected ice and they retreated from the base.
avalanche.safety,
Wednesday 29th November, 2023 9:38PM
Burstall Pass
Took a ski-walk to Burstall Pass to check conditions. 20cm in the valley with fair base, HS 29cm above the headwall at 2300m with firm base, 43cm near the top at 2400m with weak base. (Temperature crust layer at 20cm with 23 cm powder on top at 2400m pit, east aspect near top of Burstall Pass). Wind is transporting snow into the lee areas to depths of 40cm+. Winded areas are scoured to 10cm.
GordFerguson,
Wednesday 29th November, 2023 9:38PM
Ranger creek
The Ranger creek drainage affecting the climbs R and D, Lone Ranger and Chalice and the blade is closed on Nov 12. This closure is issued by Kananaskis Mountain rescue and is only expected to last 24hrs.
avalanche.safety,
Wednesday 29th November, 2023 9:38PM
Kent Ridge S
Hiked up Kent ridge S to get a view on conditions around and stretch the legs. Mostly quite easy travel without snowshoes, but I put them on near the top at some open ridge areas. Considerable warming with pinwheeling on S-facing slopes and melt-freeze crust apparent from previous days. Very strong winds at ridge top. Snowpack similar to Avie report -- around 10-20cm in the valley/trees and 40-60 in lee features and open areas protected from wind. Skiing would not be advisable unless you're from the Sylvain Sudan school of thought. No avalanches or instabilities observed anywhere near me, snow on these aspects appears well bonded -- I descended a few steep slopes with no action, and so no indication of previous slides anywhere on the ridge.
samyeaman,
Wednesday 29th November, 2023 9:37PM
Black Prince Snow Shoe
There was a persistent slab about 10cm depth. Surface hoar observed. Spent day outside for AST 1 course. Branches and rocks exposed through the snow going up to the lake.
morgan.cooze,
Wednesday 29th November, 2023 9:37PM
Rummel Lake Hike
We hiked into Rummel Lake to check out early conditions and get a feel for gear. No skis yet since coverage is very limited. We had fairly consistent conditions from the road (~1800m) through Rummel lake (~2200m) all below treeline. Snow was very soft throughout. Snow depth at 2200m was 25cm and had a very thin crust about 5cm down. Surface hoar was present most heavily between 1950m-2150m.
Temperatures rose very quickly for us from -17C at 8:30am to -2 by around 11:00am.
brandon.priince,
Wednesday 29th November, 2023 9:36PM
Blue Cheese - ice
Approach decent. There is a deadfall tree across the trail almost at the climb needing a squeeze under it. 10-12" diameter so may need a chainsaw to clear it.
Snow depths were shallow, barely a few CM's. Large hoar frost on the surface crossing the dam and smaller hoar frost on the High Rockies Trail. Facets seemed common. No signs of blowing snow in the valley or in the alpine but many slopes looked wind scoured across the valley.
Climb itself is still somewhat low volume and has yet to really fatten out. It is possible to have two ropes set up if parties work together like today and thanks for doing so.
Left side was not the typical pillar but did have a nice groove to climb. Right side was a hollow pillar with clear windows showing running water inside the tube. A 13cm didn't break through though so thicker than it looks. Right side also featured petals and cauliflower making the lead more interesting.
It's "in" but not as fat or blue as it normally gets... yet.
Grant P,
Wednesday 29th November, 2023 9:36PM
Blueberry
Observations from xc skiing to Blueberry Hill. A bit of off trail at one of the few spots that wasn't choked with willows showed a 40 cm faceting snowpack at about 1950m, with a lightly supportive midpack layer about 20 cm down, that would occasionally collapse to ground. Surface hoar pretty much everywhere.
steveandjoriggs,
Wednesday 29th November, 2023 9:36PM
Lyautey N Glacier pit
<p>Went up to Lyautey N glacier. We where going to ski the main couloir but realized we where a bit late and wanted to be sure of the snowpack first. I dug a full profile at 2550m on the glacier. We found a deep 260cm snowpack with couple big MFC and a generally solid snowpack ranging from 1F near the top to P near the base. Check 2nd photo for pit details. Lots of evidence of DP avalanches from the big warm up but nothing that seemed recent. Snow up high on N aspect did not get isothermic all day. Valley bottoms was pretty much clear up to the forks campground.</p>
bensoneff,
Sunday 7th May, 2023 7:20PM
Skier Remote 2.5 Burstall Pass
Kevin R,
Wednesday 3rd May, 2023 1:30PM
King Creek - ice
<p>**Approach was ok but icy in spots. -1c at 7am gave supportive snow going in but increased post holing leaving. Some creek hopping needed.
**South facing avalanche gullies were mostly snow free. North facing avalanche gullies had snow and lots of avalanche debris in them.
**Magic touch not good.
**Curse of the Bambinos had significant avalanche debris below it, a rarity. Class2.
**Main Flow looked ok but bleached.
**Right Cave Flow not in.
**Left Cave Flow had some surface bleaching but good ice below any bleaching and protected well. Excellent ice for the first timer I had with me and several others in a group.
**Gully Flow looked in good shape. Bleaching looked minimal probably because of a little water flow freshening things up.
**Left our friends and went climbing rock in the afternoon.</p>
Grant P,
Sunday 30th April, 2023 3:50AM
French Haig Robertson
<p>Good conditions for FHR loop. Started grey but sun popped out around 9:30. Fast travel up past TL. Strong winds in the Alpine. Evidence of a cycle on all aspects with alpine point releases often turning into large avalanches, sometimes stepping down mid path. Crux pitch was a boot back on suncrust that turned into wind affected skinnable snow as the angle slackened. Descent went from pretty okay to breakable crust. Witnessed a cornice failure on NE terrain above the descent route but couldn’t see debris or runout. In the fast section before the flats, slides on that same aspect buried previous skier track (48h+ looked like). Impressive debris piles on both sides from successive cycles.
We had ski crampons but could’ve gone without. Grizzly tracks in both drainages. </p>
eric.ricou,
Wednesday 26th April, 2023 8:10PM
Commonwealth/Tryst
<p>Ditto to the previous posts. A few additional photos attached. The large crowns on commonwealth ridge looked crisp enough to be from Friday PM, but difficult to be certain in the flat light. Another crown with impressive width on the ridge west of Pig’s Back. And the steep gully in the Commonwealth exit also had large debris - recent, but snow covered.
Tryst skied well. Sluffing in steep terrain but otherwise no signs of instability in the chutes.
Mostly cloudy until noon, but the sun came out after that and rapidly impacted the surface snow.</p>
BubblegumOutlaw,
Sunday 23rd April, 2023 6:50AM
commonwealth creek/Tryst
<p>Good day in Commonwealth/Tryst area. North facing slopes held best snow. Snow was quite wet below 2000 meters by 12 noon. Valley bottoms will be crusty tomorrow. Heros knob was skied wall to wall as viewed with binoculars. Let's see some mins folks!!</p>
jefferygooliaff,
Saturday 22nd April, 2023 9:30PM
Commonwealth Circuit
<p>Quick loop of Commonwealth. Mostly cloudy in the am but a lot more sun pm.
Once the sun was out the snow was
moist within minutes(we were already down at the creek) Skied 5-10cm dense fresh snow over a supportive crust. several parties in the area on Thryst and one party ahead of us. Skiing was ok, but it was a good day out.
Lots of signs of the cycle from earlier this week on west slopes. Especially commonwealth ridge (see picture).</p>
Colin Hoglund,
Saturday 22nd April, 2023 3:00PM
Chester Lake Full Profile
<p>Impressive results with wide propagation from previous cycle. Substantial debris on Chester Lake in the Size 3 range, looked to originate in steep terrain and transition to a deeper slab at the start of the fans. Size 2.5 debris at base of chester lake couloir fan. Full profile with density attached. (practice for ops2). Large depth hoar at base of snowpack.</p>
drakemillersnowboard,
Wednesday 19th April, 2023 10:50AM
Dogleg area
<p>Decent morning in the dogleg area. Lots of tracks from previous days in main path and pretty grabby but some fresh tracks available if you poked around elsewhere. Started at the car at 8:30 and back to car by noon, not sure you’d want to be out much later as it got very very warm and very very sticky. Anything with any sun exposure was pretty wet and full on solar exposure was slush even at 2200 m by 11. Bottom of the valley was bomb proof frozen and hadn’t defrosted by noon which made the luge track pretty wild. Forecast was pretty bang on with start early end early.
Impressive avalanche activity on the hero’s knob east face from the storm, would have been quite something to see. </p>
bdpiche,
Sunday 16th April, 2023 1:00PM
Blue Cheese - ice
<p>**Partner didn't have good boots to cross the creeks so we parked towards the dam and used the dam approach. Frozen snow walking in and still mostly supportive bootpack as we left early afternoon. A second party arriving midday said the level of the creek was getting deeper for crossing it.
**I expected to find the climb a little wet but it was dry all day. Some dinner plating but generally in excellent condition. Good swings and good pro to be had.
**A nice easy line up the middle or if you want steeper the left side and middlle of the right side were good.
**Far right pillar made a nice stemming groove although pro in the right pillar would be poor. Its the only section with any sun rot.
**Anchors. The slung log is well buried in ice as is the bolted rap anchor further back on the left. We had a screw anchor then rapped off the chain on the live tree, left side. Walking off left is also an option when you're done.
**Climb gets morning sun but will stay in shape whilst a good overnight freeze happens or until a large water flow develops. Awesome to have it all dry today though. </p>
Grant P,
Saturday 15th April, 2023 4:30PM
N. Face S. Of Black Prince
<p>Natural sluff from storm ripped N. Slopes to ground in a massive 3/4 avalanche triggered mid run out…
Likely indicative of Hero’s to the North.</p>
Nathan Kneisel,
Saturday 15th April, 2023 3:30AM
FHR
<p>Fantastic day on the FHR. Cold start: -12 at 8am. Multiple avalanches throughout the French drainage, up to size 3. Most of the bigger slides were on the sunny east face, but the west face had some smaller slides to 1.5 or 2. Probed 175 at the toe of the glacier, growing to 3m+ near the upper section.
Unfortunately the Robertson headwall hadn't slid. We ascended the headwall via the west side where we felt we were able to limit our time of exposure on the headwall itself. We were supported by a 1 inch crust which the sun hadn't started to break down yet. The downside of the western ascent of the headwall is that it left us with a passable but uncomfortable ridgewalk.
We descended the Robertson in perfect boot deep powder with no wind effect!
The bottom section of the Robertson shooting gallery had multiple large avalanches to size 3 (some to ground) on both east and west faces.
</p>
ewanchyn,
Friday 14th April, 2023 7:20PM
Spray
<p>Great above 2150m. Terrible below. Just not much tree safety skiing to choose from above that. First few turns fantastic. Next few okay. Then 2075 and below was miserable crust, couldn't turn on it, then would break through and get swallowed REPEATEDLY. </p>
Jimbo,
Wednesday 12th April, 2023 10:00AM
Black prince SE path & NE fan
<p>Went for a walk in Black Prince area, skied from top of tree triangl (2300m) down the SE path on rock hard ice @ 1130am, softened up around 1950m to the bottom flats @ 1850m. Did a couple laps up the mellow fan below the small icefall NE aspect , much better snow there but started to get pretty wet around 1400pm. Still a couple open patches to be skied on lookers left of this feature. </p>
Lucs.lines,
Saturday 8th April, 2023 10:30AM
Robertson
<p>Went up to the Robertson glacier and got up to the col despite moderate to high winds and bad vis. A couple other parties out skiing FHR and burstall. One notable natural Sz 2 windslab lookers right of the col on NE aspect. Definitely windslabs building in the alpine. Variable HS on the glacier (150-250+.) </p>
bensoneff,
Friday 7th April, 2023 10:30PM
Purple/Gandalf/Hero’s
<p>Nice day out and overall good conditions. Surprisingly cold and dry conditions still on all three slopes we rode. The sun was starting to pack a punch when we topped out on purple at noon. Stayed well left of the cornice but there are a few smaller ones looming left as well. Winds were gusty at times and the top half of purple and Gandalf were variable due to wind. Approx. 1” breakable crust in places. Other than some wind effect the recent snow is still unconsolidated. Quite a few tracks on sweet sixteen but great snow to be found. The rapid temp rise noted is only in relation to the south facing slopes and lower elevations. We noted a couple of small releases at the top of the dog leg chutes on the way in (see pic).</p>
CWM ,
Thursday 6th April, 2023 9:50PM
Burstall Pass cornice concerns
<p>Left the Burstall parking lot at 10:30am April 5th, returning at 5pm. No recent avalanche activity en route observed beyond a few point release sluffs in steeper areas when the clouds allowed observations. The alpine had recently received new snow. Winds were moderate and gusty from the SW all day with convective flurries. The cloud helped keep the sun off the overhead exposure along the route to/from Burstall pass. Temperatures remained below zero, we did not have a thermometer with us. Cornices along the route up Burstall Pass are of a concern especially along Snow Peak where the cornices seem to be well developed (to this inexperienced eye). Direct solar heating causing a cornice fail is a real possibility as it seems the cornices have yet to release, no debris from previous activity was seen. Avalanche.ca snowpack summaries are warning the basal facet layer can be 'woken up' by the strong April sun. That would especially be likely with a cornice failure. The historical avalanche run out zones on Snow Peak run over the current skin/snowshoe uptrack. Approximately 20-30 cm of new snow was well supported on the ski down from the alpine and through the trees which made for fantastic ski conditions. Routefinding down from the alpine was not ideal for us, we ended up on a convexity with an overhang that could have been avoided, and we were lucky in hindsight. Wise to mitigate such newbie mistakes in the future. Learning in hindsight is not the best, especially in unforgiving circumstances. Caveat - this is the first MIN report from a relative newbie with AST1 completed in December.</p>
LindaM,
Thursday 6th April, 2023 2:50PM
Tent Ridge and Shark Trees
<p>Several large avalanches triggered by wind loading. One ~size 2 and two size 3’s on Tent Ridge. Several cornice falls from size 1 to 2.5 into the bowls on either side of Shark Trees</p>
cunningham.dylan,
Thursday 6th April, 2023 9:40AM